Wanted sex offender captured in Chatham

Christopher Hadel

A man wanted by the Bulloch County Sheriff's Office for failing to register as a sex offender was taken into custody in Chatham County Thursday afternoon, according to investigators.

Christopher Allen Hadel, 25, had been spotted in the area of Georgia Highway 119 near Effingham County. The sheriff’s office issued arrest warrants charging Hadel with failure to register as a sex offender and probation violation.

He last registered on Oct. 30 and was listed as an absconder on the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s Sex Offender Registry.

Hadel was convicted Sept. 12 for sexual exploitation of children.

Hadel was sentenced to 10 years probation and banished from Effingham County under an Alford plea, in which the defendant does not admit to all facts of the case but is found guilty by the court.

The Effingham County Sheriff’s Office was alerted last year that Hadel was downloading and sharing child pornography. Investigators traced the IP address to a home in Chatham County and discovered that Hadel shared the material with a computer in Effingham County.

When deputies arrested him, they said investigators found more than 100 pictures and videos of child pornography on Hadel’s computer.